JJazzLab 4
A complete and open application for backing tracks generation.
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Where to start?
Try this very short video tutorial.
What is JJazzLab?
🎵 JJazzLab is a desktop application which automatically generates backing tracks for any song, even complex ones. It’s a jam buddy to have fun improvising at home, learn new stuff or just practice your instrument. It’s also a great tool for teachers.
🎷 JJazzLab is designed to make non-boring backing tracks, backing tracks with variety, rhythmic accents and dynamics. You can start a solo slowly and gradually build up the atmosphere!
💻 JJazzLab is open-source: developers can easily add new features and new music generation capabilities.
Features
Backing tracks
Instant generation of a Midi backing track with drums, percussion, bass, piano, guitar, pad, horn section, …
Fine tuning of the backing track per song part: rhythm variation, intensity, muted instruments, drum fills, tempo factor, custom phrases, drums transform, …
Add user tracks, which can also be used to change predefined rhythm tracks
Play from anywhere, loop selected bars
Play transposed (e.g. for sax or trumpet players)
Any song structure: intro, chorus, 1st coda, etc.
Adjust tempo, transposition, choose and solo/mute instruments
Support for multi-rhythm backing tracks, possibly with different time signatures
Export to Midi file, the full backing track or a single instrument track
Easy Midi-to-MP3 conversion via export to Midi file
Customizable click and pre-count
Editors
Chord lead sheet editor, song structure editor, chord symbol editor, mix console, notes editor, song memo editor
Multi-file editor with dockable windows
Intuitive user interface with unlimited undo/redo, copy/paste between songs
Free placement of the chord symbols (quantified or not), off-beat chord symbols anticipation
Support all pop-rock and jazz chord symbols, plus user-defined chord symbols
Edit chord symbol musical rendering: underlying harmony, accent type, harmony variation during solos, chord symbol substitution, …
Add annotations or lyrics to measures
Drag & drop support to import/export Midi files
Customizable song template
Customizable UI colors and fonts
Print chord lead sheet and song structure
Rhythms (styles)
Support for Yamaha style files (SFF1 & SFF2 format), access to thousands of free styles on the web
Hundreds of embedded rhythms in the installer
Support for “YamJJazz Extended Yamaha" style files for even more variations per style
Open architecture: new rhythm generation engines can be easily added via plugins
Easy reader window
Show the currently playing chords and annotations/lyrics
Notes viewer
Show backing track notes in real time
Show selected chord symbol notes and scales with piano keyboard, guitar diagrams or score
(pseudo) Arranger keyboard mode
Recognize chords played on Midi IN and update the backing track in (pseudo) real-time
Improvisation help
Automatic generate improvisation guides on your chord leadsheet
Based on Hal Crook's reference book "How to improvise"
FluidSynth, the JJazzLab builtin synth
JJazzLab embeds a ready-to-use synth based on FluidSynth, with good sounds optimized for JJazzLab
Midi
If not using FluidSynth, you still can connect JJazzLab to a Midi synth (hardware or software) with advanced configuration possibilities
Import
Band-In-A-Box / MusicXML / Impro-Visor lead sheet files
Chords symbols from .csv/.txt files
Miscellaneous
Song memo with hyperlinks opened upon song loading
Easily add new features thanks to the open-source pluggable architecture
Based on the Netbeans application framework
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